Windmill Country: Guar acreage expected to increase in Texas

The Trans-Pecos and High Plains regions received little to no precipitation last weekend, but the rest of the state received between 0.2 and 3 inches, with isolated areas reporting upwards of 4.5 inches, according to the weekly summary of USDA’s Texas Crop Progress and Condition report.

Bob Helmers, who operates the Bar H Ranch south of Christoval, confirmed the report. “We had more than 2 inches of rain and it was pretty general across the whole ranch,” he told me.

Helmers said he downsized his livestock inventory in 2011, the worst one year drought in history, and has not restocked since that time although the last two years have been good moisture-wise.

“Both 2016 and 2017 sort of spoiled us but we held off increasing our livestock numbers and allowed the pastures to recover,” he said.

Meanwhile, the recent rainfall came too late to boost winter wheat crops in many areas but aided cotton farmers by delivering moisture as planting season gets underway.

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, 73 percent of the winter wheat is headed out and 5 percent has been harvested across the Lone Star State. Wheat conditions rate 2 percent excellent; 14 percent good; and 31 percent poor.

Farmers on the South Plains, known as the largest cotton patch in the world, are looking to increase oilseed crops – sunflowers, sesame, canola and guar – this year due to drought, according to Calvin Trostle, an agronomist at Lubbock.

Texas guar producers are expected to increase acreage by as much as 30 percent this season, he said. Guar prices continue to be low, but there is great interest in the heat and drought tolerant crop.

I visited a farm near Lubbock in the 1990s where guar was the main crop. Not knowing what it was at the time, I soon learned guar is used in the drilling process for petroleum production.

“There is a huge market for it (guar) when drilling is active, and there is interest in it as a good-grade emulsifier,” Trostle said. “Since guar is drought and heat tolerant, there are plenty of areas in Texas where it could be a successful crop.”

Jerry Lackey is agriculture editor emeritus of the San Angelo Standard-Times. Contact him at jlackey@wcc.net.